“After having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well.”

These words were attributed to Turkey’s founding father Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and are inscribed on other memorial’s around the world.

Professor of history at the Peter Stanley said that because the Erdoğan government is in power, Islamists are now in the ascendant. Peter stated that “It depicts Turkey’s 86,000 Gallipoli dead as ‘Martyrs’, dying in a fight against Christian invaders.”

The memorial’s destruction was noticed by a guide, and posted on social media.